The Grave Hymn
by StarryEyedRin
Summary: Rui is a self-esteemed prodigy; a miraculous violin player who plays for thousands of people every week. Zatsune is only a blunt lesbian who has her entire career and life on her fingertips... and the power to destroy her life in only a matter of days. Rui x Zatsune


Title: The Grave Hymn

Summary: Rui is a self-esteemed prodigy; a miraculous violin player who plays for thousands of people every week. Zatsune is only a blunt lesbian who has her entire career and life on her fingertips... and the power to destroy her life in only a matter of days. Rui x Zatsune

_Author's Note: Originally, this was going to be a contest entry, but I realized it was too dark and too mature for it. (It had to be PG-13) Ah well, this was fun to write. (Very hard to write but fun. ) I've given up editing any more of it, I'm losing my movement. This is as far as I can go._

_This is an AU of an AU (The original being Red Boarding School of Dread) It borrows from that alternate universe. _

_It's fun experimenting with Yanderes, even if Zatsune isn't always made a Yandere._

_Please note, this contains Yuri/Shoujo ai/Girl's Love. And hints of Yanderes;  
_

_Cover is also by me~ So is the poetry._

_I hope you enjoy!~_

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**_._**

**_._**

_She was like butterfly turned moth,_

_Daylight turned to Dusk,_

_Wrapped in a warm cocoon;_

_Yet entrapped in venom._

**[****The Grave Hymn****]**

_Soon, I will forget about him..._

…_.My brother. _

_My one and only brother... _

_...Rei. Rei Kagene._

_**I ****MUST forget about him. EVERYTHING. **_

_I must forget about Rei Kagene. _

[…]

Concerts were war. Battles with the ability to enrage, battles with the ability to cry: battles with the ability to shout. Concerts were everything and anything that Rui anticipated they could be. The bow represented her weapon: the violin the same; she plucked each string with her bow and conjured pure melodies toned to perfection. She strummed each melody which she carved from deep within her heart, and with all her power she spit it out- just like a machine gun firing at it's opponent. At the end of each performance there was always a big applause, and her mentor told her to fire away at the next group. And yet, even with most of the audience at it's toes, clapping hands, dead: it still wasn't enough.

There was a missing piece in the puzzle.

Fame. Fame had crossed her mind, shook hands with her, and decided to leave her be. She desired this attention more than anything, hooked on it like a drug. And yet, this fame never made her corrupt. Many of her friends who had once been friends became corrupt- but never her. She didn't have the heart to completely indulge herself in fame... because of her intolerance to too much attention. And so, after each concert, she took her leave and went home.

Classical instrumental performances were much different from a rock performance or a pop performance: They lacked crazy fans. Most people were simply low cut, snide and prim performers themselves, who gave bad feedback and always gave bad criticism. A certain few, however, were the crazy fans who loved her music. And those fans always made her happy. She was only 15 years of age... but she'd already been asked out 10 times by suspicious looking boys. Of course, she rejected them all.. how could she ever go out at such a young age? It made her chuckle: she'd wait until her heart belonged to one person. Until she fell in love.

And fall in love she did.

Rui wasn't conceited. She never was. Rui knew that appearances didn't matter: that it was the heart that counted. She didn't wish to remember her past, but rather: aim for her future. She had a very bright future ahead of her, lots of money, her parents were happy with her- she couldn't let that go. The battleground would call to her, and she'd be unable to attend it... the musical war would be appearing, and she'd have to ignore it- she'd get herself shot in the foot before she gave up her career! She was more famous than her cousin Rin Kagamine, for crying out loud! And she loved, more than anything... than to play the violin.

But this girl... was beautiful.

Oh yes, it was a girl. Last time, she didn't even want to think about- but it had been a boy. This girl... had black hair tied in two twintails. Her eyes were a soft cerise colored red; and her face was so pale, she looked like a doll. Her eyes were just as cold as one, staring off into her soul, but it was welcoming... in a way. She was decked out in a lolita flavored dress; but it was considered gothic lolita. Her tastes in clothes were simply... interesting. Rui desired to learn more about her.

This girl was bold. Lively. She happened to play a role in the audience as one of her greatest critics: She herself played no instrument. But somehow, her attitude was likeable. So, she had her cousin Rin invite her behind the stage. And yet, she quickly learned... that was her biggest mistake.

It wasn't the first time that made her wary. The first time she had been extremely polite and well mannered. The second time had been practically the same, with a few rude remarks. It was the third time over, when she simply invited herself in:

Rui was writing a song for an instrumental in her office. She practically lived behind the curtain. She personally called it "The Grave Hymn" but everyone else simply would know it as "The Butterflies Dance." She never wrote The Grave Hymn on the cover: rather the lather. She enjoyed the composition's old name so much, she couldn't help herself as she lightly penned the name: "The Grave Hymn" in the corner of her paper.

As she were writing the notes, she heard a creak in the door. Zatsune appeared, and smiled.

"Hello, sugar. See that you're quite busy..." Zatsune greeted.

"Yes, I am quite busy these days. Composing and writing and-" Zatsune snatched the paper off the desk.

"The Grave Hymn huh? What, so this is a song about graves? Hmm... If you want to make your song great, you should visit a graveyard. Maybe your brother's grave. And sing the melody to him."

"Who told you about my brother? No one's supposed to-" Rui was cut off by Zatsune's cruel laughter. Her laughter shocked her- Zatsune had been so nice before!

"Oh, I know a lot more than just that..." Zatsune told her. "For someone as cute as you, no one can hide any secrets from me."

Rui's face mixed up with confusion.

"Zatsune, I want you out of here. Please go..." Rui told her. "You're giving me the creeps. I should have never invited you in."

Zatsune grasped her hand. Rui squeaked, but Zatsune placed her palm over her mouth before she could speak.

"You're biggest mistake was inviting me in..." She giggled. "I don't understand why you wanted me to be here. You barely even know me. You've never even heard of me..."

"Why is it such a mistake?" Rui mumbled. She thought Zatsune hadn't heard her over her hand being over her mouth, but Zatsune gave her a look in the eyes and told her;

"Because you wanted to forget everything... all that has been perished from your memory. You wanted to reminiscence in the present and leave the past behind. You wanted to have fame and fortune, you wanted to have a family. You wanted all this and more, and you got it because you've forgotten it...

"...and now you're going to remember everything. _Every last drop_."

[…]

_No, the pain!_

_It's too much...! _

_Too much to take!_

_I want to forget..._

_**I want to forget!**_

_**I WANT TO FORGET!**_

[…]

The nights were restless. Rui couldn't help but fall asleep too late... she was shaky, she was discordant, incoherent. She wanted, desired- more than ANYTHING at ALL, to be free. Free from this torment. Free from this danger. Free from... herself.

That's when people like Rin started to notice... strange things. She stopped talking with her cousin: She couldn't let her know. Know who was controlling her, manipulating her, arousing her. Who was _destroying _her. She had always thought that Rin would never understand... Rin was a year younger than her: Of course she wouldn't. Rin was naïve. She'd turn on her in a blink of an eye. The 14 year old may have had a girlfriend, but her girlfriend was nice... far from cruel. There were rumors that she was siblings to Zatsune, but the blonde was happy. So happy... it didn't matter if they were true.

She kept her responses to her mentor Gakupo, minimal. Whenever he asked her if something was wrong, she merely would shake her head and force a smile on her face with an "I'm fine." She knew her songs were getting more and more fast paced and extremely dramatic. Soon enough, they could hardly be called "classical music." Her style represented more of a dramatic Gothic reproduction... with dramatic instruments and dark lyrics playing alongside the violin. The feeling it gave was so hard to describe...

But despite all that, her new song, The Grave Hymn, was a smashing hit. She thought she would have called it: "The Butterflies Dance" but she had been convinced otherwise with the title. It sold thousands of CDs as a single... and it made her very happy. It sold more CDs than her usual songs: in fact, she usually didn't sell CDs at all! But she figured it was because of the content: It was drastically different than her usual songs.

She was the composer for the song, and Gakupo fixed it up: and she had collaborated with her cousin Rin and had her sing the lyrics (with Rin's girlfriend Miku as the background lyrics. ) She refused to tell the background story for it, because it was very personal... but she noticed a much bigger crowd, and that was good.

But despite all that, Rui never talked with any of her new fans, nor talked with her cousin or any of her friends. She started to spend much more time alone... and that wasn't good. She isolated everyone, except one person: Zatsune.

Zatsune loved her. But her love was destructive. And her love was so cruel hearted that Rui desired to leave her... but she couldn't leave. That day Zatsune stepped into her office... that day, Zatsune had said conspiracies about her. Little itty bitty lies. Ideas and thoughts that couldn't possibly be true! She had explained, in erupt detail: Her fate.

She had accused her of murder.

But not just any murder.

Murdering...

_Her brother. _

But Rui knew she had no intentions of harming her brother, and didn't wish to remember ever harming him. So when she popped in the very next day, the violinist told her she was lying.

"_You pushed him into the street." _She had replied. _"You call that lying?"_

She couldn't recall the memory- it was too soon. She had pushed it to the back of her mind. But it haunted her in her dreams- she never remembered the dreams... but she always heard screams.

She always heard _his _screams.

And she always woke up frantic and screaming.

More than anything... she wanted to forget. And keep forgetting. She hated to remember... hated to remember him...

She hated it so much...

And now, Zatsune was-

Was...!

[…]

_I'm addicted to her..._

_Her breath steals me away..._

_I can only be hers..._

_I must give up everyone else. _

_I must relish in solitude._

_I must forget. For her..._

_**AND I'VE FORGOTTEN**_

[…]

Their first kiss was like sugar.

High fructose corn syrup sugar.

Like honey.

Or a sweet delicious cake.

Intoxicating... melting... and making her drunk.

The second, was like taffy;

Or candy of any kinds,

Chocolate, caramel, lollipops, peanut butter cups...

That made her feel high.

And the third?

Just like the other two. But sweeter and more intoxicating.

Rui could forget about herself in Zatsune: she felt no need to drive herself to do anything. Because once they kissed, they forgot everything they were doing. All Rui had to do to end an argument was slip her lips into Zatsune's and call it good. Rui wished they could go farther than a kiss; but Zatsune thought otherwise, always pushing her away once things got a little too overwhelming.

Rui wasn't sure why Zatsune would push her away. She liked her kisses. They were addicting. How could she possibly not want more? Her kisses were fun...

Did she have something else in mind?

During these times, Rui was a plastic toy. At least, at times- she surely felt like one. Zatsune took advantage of her horrible memory, which kept her interested in her, but Rui never once realized she had been taken advantage of, or what she had done was wrong. Zatsune always played innocent in those times: telling her she didn't do anything wrong. And then she'd brush her lips against her skin and pleasure would wrap around her mind instead of pain.

Because she shut out everyone- even her cousin, Rui was beginning to be lonely. And so, her loneliness was solved whenever Zatsune came into her office and wrapped her arms around her. Usually she was busy with work, but Zatsune was busy with her... feeding her loneliness. Replacing it with high endorphins. It was, without a doubt- the most abusive relationship anyone could be put through. But Rui, at that point... didn't care. She'd already lost everything.

It reached a breaking point when Zatsune had found out she took anti-psychotics for some mental disorder. Zatsune, who thought it was fair as can be... told her to go off of those if she ever wanted to be normal. Rui generally was horrified: How could she go off pills that made her feel natural?

That was when she began to feel something was definitely was off about her. Her gut instinct told her to go home early, so she packed her bags, grabbed her violin and music sheet and went home. Any music projects she would work on at home...

Once arriving, her home looked empty. But then she heard a crash in the bathroom. She raced over to see none other than Zatsune with a handful of empty pill bottle containers in her hands. Rui was so shocked, that she almost wondered if Zatsune had taken in that much of her medicine and now was going to-

No. She hadn't.

Had she?

"Zatsune, please don't tell me you just took all that medicine..." Rui shouted with a look of concern.

"No. I didn't." She plainly stated. "I threw them all away."

Rui paled in the face. She didn't know how to react. She didn't have her next prescription until a month later...those pills were supposed to last for the entire month! She- she... she can't last for a month without those things! She'd go crazy! She'd start hallucinating... believing her brother was out to get her. Believing that the world was coming to an end- she... she- she might even kill herself!

"Wh... _why? __**Why Zatsune**__**?!**_" Rui was so angry... she was almost too angry. She could slam her stupid, dumb girlfriend into the bathtub and stab her with toothpicks until she gave a reason for doing this horrid, horrid act of human nature and-

She laughed.

_She laughed!_

"Don't you see? You rely too much on those stupid pills anyway." Zatsune darkly told her. "Now that you don't have them, you're so much more free."

"Ahhh! You moronic idiot! You obviously don't have a clue what I have, do you?" Zatsune shook her head.

"No and I don't care." She told her.

"I have bipolar disorder. _Manic depression. _If you don't know what that is, you're just about to find out. You just screwed yourself over, because I am not letting you out of here until I skin you alive!" Rui shouted.

"Oh, I'm so scared." Zatsune mocked. Rui blocked the door with anger flooding her face. "Wait, so you're serious?"

Rui grabbed a brush.

"Dead serious." Rui managed to muster. She took steps forward. "I take medicine to rid of unwanted feelings. Obviously you can't understand, cause you're a crazy psychopathic bi-"

She was grabbed.

And thrust into the corner.

The brush was yanked from her.

Zatsune raised it at her.

She'd forgotten...

Forgotten the bittersweet taste of romance.

It was brought down in a heartbeat.

[...]

_I... remember!_

_I remember _

_I remember _

_I remember..._

_The Grave Hymn...!_

_Rei!_

_**The truth is...!**_

[…]

The Graveyard was empty.

So frivolous. So cold... So empty.

Rui didn't care... no... why would she? It was the dead of night! She'd wander here for hours, searching but she always found...

No.

She turned around.

She was the only one here.

She stepped back and heard a tree branch snap, but it was only her feet.

"I hope you like my music, big brother." Rui told the grave. She spoke out to the wind, feeling it touch her back as she relaxed. "Your presence always makes me feel comfortable."

Almost instantly, she could feel the presence of his ghost, and imagined his gloomy smile. She could hear him whisper: "I miss you Rui." In fact, she DID hear him say that! It startled her.

"Rei, are you talking to me?" She asked. No, it couldn't be... Rei is dead! This was just another hallucination...

"I really love you Rui... I love you just as much as any brother should." Rei seemed so- so- real! She dropped to her knees. She could hear his voice so clearly- but she could never see him. Was this a delusion? Her medicine was almost completely out of her system...

"You're dead, Rei... how are you talking to me?" When she heard no response... she decided she'd not worry about it. "I have a song to perform to you, big brother! It's called... It's called...

"It's called The Grave Hymn." Rui explained. "I wrote it myself. You'd be proud of me, right?"

When she heard no response yet again, she sighed and got up from her knees and grabbed her violin.

"From me to you. This song is all about you." Rui whispered.

"_I like the sound of that." _She heard. It must have just been the wind.

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper,_

_Keep me pure Grave Keeper, _

_Words aren't enough to treasure, _

_When life has been brought to it's ankles_

_Keep me young and keep me bright, Grave Keeper;_

_For neither of us can keep secrets_

_Tainted I am today, Grave Keeper_

_For the sun does not shine for us, but the world_

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper, _

_Son of the Grave, _

_Cherish me and Love me_

_All throughout the day_

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper,_

_Love me dear Grave Keeper;_

_Love me best as you can. _

Rui did a short violin solo in this time frame. She felt strongly about what she was singing: even if she wasn't the one who practiced the words, it felt like she had repeated these words over and over again to sing this song. It calmed her.

So without a doubt she continued to sing:

_Without a doubt in my mind, _

_There is nothing to hide, Grave Keeper_

_With the shackles running free, I stagger cross the line_

_When you were with me, I was able to fly,_

_With you I gained more than I lost Grave Keeper,_

_But once you were gone, I fell to my gloom;_

_Tainted I am today, Grave Keeper_

_For the moon can only be so close to the sun _

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper, _

_Son of the Grave, _

_Cherish me and Love me_

_All throughout the day_

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper,_

_Love me dear Grave Keeper;_

_Love me best as you can. _

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper,_

_Son of the Moon and Stars,_

_Son of the Sun and Earth;_

_Son of my mother, my father; _

_Brother of me and you. _

_Grave Keeper, Grave Keeper, _

_Love me dear brother,_

_Love me best as you can._

Rui couldn't take it anymore as sobbed into her lap. Her brother was gone, and she heard no voices anymore... but she still had lost it completely...

"Big brother... Big brother! What have I done?" She cried. She hiccuped, tears swelling from her eyes... "She's crazy, big brother! She hits me... She kicks me... She kisses me, oh how her kisses are so good...!"

She started to cry harder.

"I'm lonely, I'm lonely..." She whispered. "So very lonely... So very lonely big brother!" She sobbed.

No reply.

"I need you... oh god do I need you... you always treated me so much better... and it's all my fault." Rui told him. "I killed you. But not on purpose... no! Never on purpose... It was just a playful fight! A playful scramble.."

No reply.

"I love you... I love you... I love you big brother... more than anything, in my heart!" She paused, coughing up smoke.

No reply.

"I need you!" She screamed.

[…]

_I'm sorry big brother. I'm so sorry Rei..._

_But the truth is..._

_The truth is...!_

_I cannot go back. _

_**I love her. **_

_And it's the biggest crime I've ever committed._

[…]

Somewhere in the graveyard, she was being watched. She could feel her presence linger nearby, but at this point she didn't care. She wasn't supposed to be here.

"The truth is, Rei... is that I killed you on the cusp of my own insanity... I destroyed our valuable family and split it in half. Mother and father never knew who killed him... oh but your death was a pure accident! A pure, pure accident! I never meant anything against you... I never meant to hurt you! And now..."

A stick snapped.

She never finished her sentence as she broke into a run.

She could hear the footsteps come closer and closer. She'd left her violin behind her, but she didn't care. She could hear the instrument being picked up, but in all of her silence decided to ignore it as she sprinted around the corner and out of the graveyard. Her body heat was murderous as she leapt into the street and turned sharp corners. No, turn that way, turn that way! Her heart was racing. Anxiety spread across her. N-no... no no no! Her violin, she must get it! She must!

She sharply turned around and backtracked her steps, no matter how terrified she was. She could feel someone's presence. She turned around.

Her last sight was a violin bashing violently into her skull.

[**Fin**]

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**.**

**.**

_Author's Note: _Not_ a whole lot to say here. ____Poor Rui. ;_;_ Hope you enjoyed.  


_I think a lot could be worked on this, but I don't know what needs to be worked on. I'm aware Zatsune's characterization is kinda blah. Forgive me for that... the v13 of this story was better (This is v12) but it lacked description and momentum to continue on, and I lost interest. The way I wrote this is kinda funny too... without any planning what so ever. (I write most of my oneshots like that, otherwise they become chapter stories~ ) Sometimes they turn out great... other times, they turn into similar as this... a random jumble of mixed up words. My contest entry will probably be an Rin x Ia, or Rui x Rin (non selfcest/incest) piece. Zatsune x Rui is too mature rated.  
_

_Feel free to review~ :)_


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